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Published: July 21st 2012
So, Osaka is supposed to be the second biggest city other than Tokyo, but I don't really see it. I stayed in Hirakata, which is considered to be like a farmtown because it's pretty small and it's mostly made of foreign and Japanese students that go to Kansai Gaidai, and there isn't too much to do other than go to the stations or eat at Sukiya. But, on weekends we usually either went to Shinsaibashi or Umeda.
Umeda is like the rich part of Osaka, where there's all designer things like prada, gucci, burberry and all the fancy stores (I even found an outback steakhouse) so there's not too much for a broke college student like myself, other than the pokecenter. I was really excited to go to see all the pokemon and relive my childhood, but I was pretty disappointed. It's all a bunch of screaming little Japanese kids, which are cute, but really annoying. Also, Pokemon never stopped in Japan, it's all new characters that no one really knows other than Pikachu, but I managed to find a Snorlax charm for my phone. So altogether, Umeda was a bust.
Shinsaibashi on the other hand, was definitely known
for the drinking. We usually started our nights shopping at H&M, made it over to the british hub for happy hour cuba libres, and then went to the club(s). In Japan, clubs technically aren't allowed to be open past 2:00, I believe so there's signs everywhere saying no dancing just in case the cops show up (rare). The train system is stupid. Last train leaves at midnight, first train comes at 5am, Therefore, if you miss the last train due to ultimate drunkenness which happens very often, you're screwed. Staying at the club until five is a challenge; you're tired, sweaty, dehydrated, and wasted and all you want to do is sit/sleep. McDonalds is always open, but they kick you out if you try to sleep there, happened to me at least 5 times, so your only options are to sleep at a karaoke bar or find a love hotel (last resort) but it does happen more often than you would think. But, Osaka isn't too bad, I just prefer Tokyo.
Also, there are two soccer teams in Osaka: Gamba and Cerezo. They pretty much hate eachother, so choose wisely. And there's a huge aquarium with a whale shark
(jinbezame) anddd Universal Studios Japan is in Osaka. Osaka castle is beautiful especially when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, but it's not worth the money to go inside.
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